Rule #0: This is not a contest about user avatar images. Any entries of such will be immediately disqualified.

That is to say, this is a contest about avatar characters. What is an Avatar? We're certainly not talking about the Airbender cartoon series here.

Rather, an Avatar is an artistic character that represents you and your skills as either an artist or person.

Contest Objective: Draw a character that represents you, in a setting associated with you. In other words, the character must be depicted doing something that YOU would normally be doing yourself.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, on to the specifics.

Rule 1 - Before You EnterNOTE! Failure to follow this rule will result in disqualification.

Before you can enter this contest, you must first actively prove yourself as able to compete. Don't worry, I'm not going to make this difficult -- all you need, to qualify as eligible for this contest, is to have an avatar character which meets the following criteria:
-

"Fan characters" are not eligible -- the character must be completely original.

Characters designed exclusively for an RP, as well as "muses" (not quite the same thing), may or may not be eligible.

There are no rules or requirements as to the 'species' of the character. Well, actually, there is only one: No straight-up "normal" humans. But anything else, from winged anime people to anthros, furries, sci-fi or animal characters, is equal and open game.

You must provide (i.e. link) at least two pictures of the character, preferably pre-existing pictures, to qualify as eligible.

Why two instead of just one? Because I don't want a random "one-shot" character.

One picture must not be merely a 'reference sheet' (e.g. the "doing nothing" pose) of the character.

Both pictures must abide by a PG-13 limit plus no sexual content.

I want to see a little information on what makes the character an avatar, i.e. exactly how it represents you, or what part of you it represents. This can be either part of the picture's description or provided alongside in your forum post, I'm not particular about how, so long as it is.

If you do not already have existing pictures to use, you may create new pictures and present them to qualify. Either way, the two pictures you provide to qualify for this contest are for screening purposes only and will not actually count as an entry for competition.

-

Rule #2 - Guidelines and Criteria for Entry

After you have qualified for competition, here are the rules by which an actual entry must abide.
-

Entry must be of the same character you presented earlier.

You must depict the character in one of two settings -- "at work", or "at play".

"At work" means depicting the character performing whatever job or career that you (yes, YOU!) actually get paid for doing yourself. It does not matter whether it's full-time or part-time, nor whether it's your dream job or just something to get enough money to pay the bills with. Obviously, if it's a job that entails a certain dress code, this means that your character must abide by whatever dress code that is, just as if they were in employ themselves.

"At play" means showing the character doing something that you (yes, YOU!) do strictly for fun -- not out of any obligation to do, nor something you do for money. Whether it's playing video games, just hanging out on the town, writing or drawing, this does not matter, so long as it's a "for fun" venture.

In order to help qualify for each category, I would like you to provide me some idea of what your job (real job) is, and what hobbies you can be seen taking time for. This is not necessarily saying what your entry will actually be.

I can only accept one entry (for each category) per person, so make sure to think yours through. You are, however, free to update or replace that entry at any time.

Limit PG-13 or lower, plus no sexual content or violence allowed.

Entry must be provided in link/URL form, from your FAC gallery.

All URL's must remain intact through the contest period and entry deadline. Broken links may be grounds for disqualification.

-

Entry Deadline: TBA

Rules may be subject to change or updates at any time. Questions, comments, or clarifications, feel free to ask.

What about characters that were originally fan characters but somehow saturated almost every kind of writing done by the creator since the original idea? (I'm talking about Fanfictions, school assigned original stories, randomly done original stories, RPs, the list goes on and on)

I have a character/muse like that. She would be fun to draw in this contes... I'm working on uploading some really old pics of her onto my gallery. _________________Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

I feel that she's a lot like me because, well, I made her because I felt she was like me. I made her up years ago and I gave her the lifestyle I had wanted. She also has a twin sister and well, to be honest, I did technically had a twin but didn't make it past birth, so I wanted her to have a twin. She even has green eyes like I do. I also gave her wings because I had always wanted to have wings, if I were an anime character. To me, they show her strength and besides, they are really pretty. I also gave her a nice family of her own, a husband and a daughter. I had always wished to have a family like hers. I hadn't really givin her a real career but I made one of her hobbies as an artist like me. She also loves to sing. I've been trying so hard to get my story about her on paper, but it never seems to come out right. I hope this is a good enough explaination. _________________

... No. Let's not do that. Some polishing/updates for the rules may be necessary.

Let's see, what needs reworking....
- Please include a brief description of what makes the character an avatar of you alongside your qualifying pics.
- Characters designed specifically as avatar characters would be ideal, but obviously, most avatars don't begin as much more than a random character, instead they sort of become a personification of the artist over time. That said, I'd prefer that the character not be originated from an RP or fic. 'Yes' or 'no' depends on the specifics, really.
- Minimum eligible dimensions for an entry: 300x300 pixels. _________________Strata here: Nanowrimo - FAC - dA - FADisclaimer: Posts may contain URLs. Click at your own risk.

Okay. I can still do her. I created her originally for a school narrative, and she ended up in many of my fics.

The info you want about why she represents me varies, but basically, she's always struck me as the strong resiliant type. Quiet, non-intrusive, kind, the list goes on. She's a representation of who I WANT to be. There are also simmilarities of certain simbols - namely the phoenix - between myself and her. She also represents, in a way, my anti-prejudice ideals.

Was that what you were looking for? _________________Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

I was under the impression at first that RP characters were not allowed at all, so I might be able to do this now. All of my old pictures are of original characters-turned-rp. I've actually got two modeled after different extremes of me...

Well if you haven't already decided to let this contest die, would this character work? 12

Mirain was modeled after the darker, stronger, more reserved side of me. Her face was inspired by a picture of my great grandmom who looked almost exactly like me, except she has my (mostly) straight hair. Her body structure is based more off of how I would probably look if I actully looked as strong as I am (since I've got some health problems I'm pretty thin). The runes along her mantle are runes to a language I made up myself awhile back.

Once she became made an RP character for the MMORPG Feudal Realms, I would play through her when I did not feel like getting too much into character since she was almost exactly like me. Like me, she was always the one who can "MacGyver" up anything, and as wife to the head of the Wolf Knights of Lunrou, she also would often take on the tasks of organizing things. Last, she was known in the realms as the "artist" for her skill in rendering portraits of nobles and of the famous cities/towns of Kirganthis.

(I tried to give myself a break with the contests but now I'm so bored lol)

But first, a rules update: In addition to the qualifying pics, I'd like you to provide me some idea of what your job (real job) is, and what hobbies you can be seen taking time for. These serve as the contexts for the terms "at work" and "at play", one of which your character must be depicted in.

This is NOT necessarily having to say what your entry will be about.

Fade: Description is good enough to qualify, but on second glance, she looks to be a generic human species, which I ruled that I won't allow. I have to enforce that.

Remember the rule about "at work" or "at play": I need some idea of how each context would be defined for you. That is, what your job ("at work") and hobby ("at play") are -- because in addition to the character themselves portraying you in some way, the context in which you draw them must also be something that portrays you. _________________Strata here: Nanowrimo - FAC - dA - FADisclaimer: Posts may contain URLs. Click at your own risk.

I thought I stated that stuff already. I was thinking of making her drawing something. That's her hobby as well as mine. Is that ok then? I don't want to say much more about the pic though until I'm actually done it. _________________

I dunno... I want to enter this, I really do, but... Tuesday at the latest? A bit too soon for me, Strata. I will try to come up with something, but for now, the type of character I'd like to do would be a normal human type character, but original and resembling something of me a little in appearence, but not totally lik me... you know where I'm coming from, right?